Tide power apparatus



'Aug. 18, 1931.

w. E. JENKINS TIDE POWER APPARATUS Filed 'June 7, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 1Patented Aug. 18, 1931 NITED STATES PATENT OFF-ICE i wrnnri OF Macon,amen V v Q I I TI'DE rowan ArrARArUs I Application filed June}, 1929.Serial No; 369,144.

Fig. 2 is a side'elevation of my improved Generically this inventionrelates to water ,gatestructure, :7

power apparatus, but it is more especially directed tothe type operableby the ebb and flow of the tides.

gAn important. object of this invention is vthe provision of a novelforrn of wate r -wheel rotatable about a verticalams and in the samedirection irrespective of the 10 directionof flow of the tide orwatercurrent.

. j'Another important object otthis invention is thelprovision of awater wheel of the above character mounted on a vertical axis, having awall structure contiguous opposite sides and extending at right anglesto the normal current flow and diagonally opposite, water gates; adaptedto be alternately opened and closed by the current flow to -ldirectsaidcurrent against oneiside of the .said, wheel only, to drive said wheelin a given direct-ion, irrespective of the direction of the flow of thetide or current.

provision ofawater idriven wheel mounted ion a' vertical axissubmersible in a body of water, having .a plurality ofpaddle blades andmeans for maintaining certain of-the offlew, the inactive bladesbecoming active and-the first mentionedblades inactive to spectiveof-theflow. of the tide or current,

A still further object of this inventionis the provisionof an apparatusas above described comprising azplurality of such water,

wheels mounted insuperimposedrelation on 'avertical shaft.

, WVith these and other objects in view,

which will become apparent as the descripti'onlproc'eeds, the inventionresides in the of'reference indicate like p construction, combinationand arrangement rts throughout 1 the several figures,.of which:

Fig. 1' is a plan view of my improve water power apparatus showing thewall and arn familiar have proven unsatisfactory by 'reason of thenecessity of costly wall and water wheel; fFig. 3 is a central sectionalview; Fig. 4 is a plan view ofa'modified form of Wheel; and n Fig. 5 isan elevation of Fig. l.

Although I am aware that attempts have been made to generate power fromthe flow of the tides, that'such devices with which I foundationstructure and intricate cooperat- 1 ingwheel mechanism, the erection ofwhich being only possible at certain shore locations; and it was toovercome the deficiencies of such apparatus and to provide one capableof 'being located where desired with a minimum of base constructionandso designed as to derive a maXimumb-f power by directing the currentflow? against one a i a side of the water wheel only, irrespective 7 PA:further. ObJBCt of this mventlon 1s the of the direction of the flow tocontinuously r rotate the-same in a given direction and .a

novel water wheel having paddles" active on one side and simultaneously'inactive,"on the opposite side, the paddles on the inactive" sidebecoming active and those'on the oppositeside inactive upon change ofdirection of 'thewater current or tide/certain of said wheelsbeing'adaptabl'e' for operar p ion in midocean Without wall orelaborate-- (lI'lV6 the wheel in'a given direct on 1rre-" foundationstructure, that I designed the water powerdevice forming the subjectmatter of this invention. a

a In the illustratedembodiment characterizing this invention'there isshown wall or abutment sections 1 and 2, respectively, with their innerends 3 and 4, spaced apart to storm water ways 5 and 6, respectively,and positioned at av point midway betweenends 8 landfl is a foundation 7constituting suite able foundation structure constructed of concrete,masonry orthe like, for a purpose here inaftermore fullyappearing;

A water wheel A comprising a vertical shaft 8, having a drum portion 9suitably mounted thereon, having a circular plate meinber'lO mounted onsaid shaft adapted 'to'seat on the upper surface ofsaid drum 7 andasimilar plate 11 similarly mounted on said shaft and adapted to seatagainst the bottom surface of said drum, said plates being firmlysecured thereto by bolt rods 12 extending through each of said platesand through the drum. The under surface of plate 10 is provided with amultiplicity of rods '13 radiating outwardly from the drum to thecircumferential periphery of the plate, suitably secured by straphangers 14 and hingedly mounted on the rod by having one edge benttherearound or otherwise suitably connected thereto is apad'clle or vane15 having each of its sides curved inwardly or slanting as'at 16 for apurpose hereinafter more fully explained;

The wheel A is adapted to be mounted in the opening between the walls 3and 4, the

lower end of shaft 8 is pivota-lly mounted in base 7, the upper end ofsaid shaft adapted to extend through frame 17, said frame having one endsuitably supported on wall section'l and the other end similarlysupported. on abutment section 2, as will be clear without furtherdescription.

Suitablymounted and hingedly connected to one corner of the wall 1 as at18 is a water gate 19, having its free edge curved V inwardly as at 20,so that when the current is flowing in gate closing directionvthe gatewill be brought to closed position at i right angles to the flow of thecurrent, thereby permitting the current to operate on one-half of thewheel only, and when the flow is in the opposite direction the gate willbe opened and brought into alignment with the end 3 of wall 1, itsmovement in the opening direction being hmited by post 21 or othersuitable anchoring means adapted to contact the outer edge of the gate.M

In order to limit the movement of the gate in closing direction a ledgeorother .suitable stop means is formed, coincident with the median lineof the wall as at'21" and integrally or otherwise connected to the'ledge or stop means 21 in alignment with said median line is a wing ordividing wall 7 which to some extent protects gate 19 and 22 extendingoutwardly from said ledge,

prevents the force of the currentrdirectly against said gate, and whenin open position cooperates with said gate to produce a spillway andthis gate and wing structure is duplicated on the opposite side of thewall, a similar gate 19 beinghingedly connected to the other wallsection diag- ,onally opposite to the gate 19.

A plate 23 forming a continuation of wing 22 and integrally or otherwisesuitably joined thereto extends withinthe wheel between the upper andlower plates and 11, re-

to a point substantially flush at its inner end with the drum 9, withits upper" sp ectively,

edge sufiiciently spaced ,from the upper plate 1 to permit passagethereover of blades the. operation of my water power unit is clear fromthe above description, it might be well to further state that when thecurrent flow is in the direction of arrow 24, gate 19 will be closed andgate 19 open and each of the paddles 15 as they come into, the path ofthe current will contact the rod 25 or other suitable ,stop element attheir lower edge, said rod in the present instance, has its inner endthreadedly or otherwise engaging the lower edge of drum 9 and its outerend securedto bottom plate 11 by bolts or other fastening elements 26secured to said plate in any 'well known manner. The

force of the current will revolve the wheel A in the direction of thearrow 27 and when r the waterway 5 designated by arrow 28 will i becomeactiveand those traversing the oppositeside willbe inactive until thedirection of flow again-changes, whereupon the initial operation will berepeated.

Figs. 4 and 5 illustrate a modified form of water Wheel B similar inoperation to the one above desc'ribed, especially adaptable where it isnot desirable to employ the-wheel and gate structure as described-inconnection with the former wheel.

The modified form of wheel B is similar to wheel A except in this formthe blades or rods 35 firmly interconnect the wheel plates .or rims 10aand 11a corresponding in number to paddles 15a, and are arranged inequi-spaced relation surrounding and'adja cent the circumferentialsurface of the hub or drum 9a: and constitute stops for the'paddles 15aon the side of the wheel active with respect to the current flow. Theperipheral edges of said plates or rims lOa-andl-laare connected by a"series of spaced bolts or shafts 36 suitably secured by threaded nuts orin any suitable manner and rotatably mounted on each of the shafts 36 isone of the blades 15a in any well known manner, but

in the present vinstance, by having one end of the blade bent upon saidshaft as at 38 and in order that the blades may have freedom of movementwith respectto the plates a spacer washer 39 is mounted on said shaft 27between the upper. and lower edges of the blade and said plates. It willbe noted the blades on one side are freeto move outwardly and point inthe direction of the current flow while those on the opposite side.

of the wheel are maintained at right angles to the current flow, saidblades on each side of the wheel becoming alternately active andinactive corresponding to the change of direction of the current flow.Shaft 8a is adapted to rotatably seat in a semi-floating suitablyanchored base 7 a, the upper end of the shaft being mounted andconnected with a suitable superstructure such as a light house or otherstructure, not shown. Since the operating principle of this wheel isidentical with wheel A it is thought its operation will be clear fromthe above description without further explanation. In some instances,depending upon tide variance, it may be expedient to mount amultiplicity of these wheels in superimposed relation on shaft 8a.

From the above it will be apparent that I have designed water drivenwheels of novel construction, manufacturable at a reasonable cost, andWhere desirable, in a comparatively inexpensive cooperating wall andgate structure, adapted to generate a maximum of power and entirelyoperable by the current flow in alternate opposite directions; adaptedto a variety of uses, simple in construction and eflicient for thepurposes intended.

Although in practice I have found that the form of my inventionillustrated in the accompanying drawings and referred to in the abovedescription as thepreferred embodiment is the most practical andefficient; yet realizing the conditions concurrent with the adoption ofmy device will necessarily vary, I desire to emphasize that variousminor changes in details of construction, proportion and arrangement ofparts, may be resorted to within the scope of the appended claim withoutdeparting from or sacrificing any of the principles of this invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I desire protected by LettersPatent is as set forth in the following claim:

water power apparatus including a water driven wheel, awall structureterminating at opposite sides of the wheel, and wing means extendingoutwardly from opposite edges of the Wheel at right angles to said walland extending within the said wheel to provide a separate waterway oneach side thereof, and means operable by the 'tion of the current flowWILDE E; JENKINS;

current for simultaneously cutting off the flow through one waterway andpermitting

